Spa (Belgium)

Spa is a town in the Liège province in Belgium, known as the "original" spa, i.e. a place where tourists came in to enjoy the health and wellness benefits of water and hot springs in particular. The springs in Spa became so popular that the name became genericized to mean any such place, with other versions of how it came to be also created over the years. Indeed, Spa is now one of 11 "Great Spa Towns of Europe", a transcontinental UNESCO world heritage site. Apart from the mineral waters, Spa also draws crowds several times a year when racing and other events are held at the nearby Spa-Francorchamps track.

Understand
The town is famous for its mineral water. The word spa comes from the name of this town, though folk etymologies — and several marketing campaigns — claim the word to be an acronym of "sanitus per aqua" or some other Latin phrase.



Get in
Spa is connected to the Belgian railway network by a side line branching out in Pepinster from the Liege-Aachen line. The is just west of the city center. The direct local trains from Aachen are discontinued since 2024 and getting to Spa from most origins in Belgium by train requires at least one change of trains in Pepinster, which on weekdays sees InterCity Line 12 service from Brussels and Liège, in addition to local train services. One can of course also arrive by car, the journey from Brussels takes around 1.5 h.

Get around
The centre of Spa is relatively small, but many attractions are in farther villages and neighbouring municipalities. TEC runs a network of bus lines connecting them.

See